37 NIGHTMOVES Sports By Paul Allen

SPORTS REPORT THE NEW LOOK TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS! NIGHTMOVES®

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will look like an entirely new team when the NFL season starts. In one of the biggest o -season signings in the team’s history, the

Bucs QB is non-other than the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) Mr. Tom Brady! In a move that shocked every football fan in the world, TB12 decided to leave the New England Patriots and play here in Tampa Bay for the Bucs.

He will have the best receiving group he has ever had that includes: Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Cameron Brate, OJ Howard (yes he is still here and not traded) and newly drafted rookie Tyler Johnson. He will also have Ronald Jones and another rookie draft pick Ke’Shawn in the back eld to run and catch. The o ense should be amazing!!

Oh wait a minute … I forget one other player who just might help a little!! Following Tommy to Tampa Bay from New England is his buddy and the tight end G.O.A.T. Rob Gronkowski! Damn … that is one amazing group of receivers!!

It should be quite a fun season and hopefully the Bucs will do what no other team has ever done … play a Super Bowl game in their own stadium!

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BUC DRAFT RECAP The Bucs had a fantastic draft! In Round One they selected the best OT in the draft (Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs) who will  ll a hole in the o ensive line. In Round Two they selected a very good safety in Antoine Win eld, Jr. (University of Minnesota) who followed his dad’s journey into the NFL! Here’s an interesting fact ... Antoine’s father, Win eld, Sr. actually intercepted Tom Brady when Jr. was three years old … that’s amazing!!!

In round three the Bucs drafted running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn from Vanderbilt. He is a hard running, physical back that should be a great compliment to Ronald Jones. I love this pick! The team didn’t have a Round Four pick as we traded up to get Wirfs but in Round Five we took Tyler Johnson (also from the University of Minnesota) who tore up Raymond James Stadium this past January and was named MVP of the Outback Bowl. This guy is a very, very good wide receiver and another target for Tom Brady!

In Round Six the Bucs grabbed Khalil Davis a DT from Nebraska and in Round Seven they drafted Chapelle Russell a linebacker from Temple and Raymond Calais a running back from Louisana. Allin-all, I think this was an amazing draft and I grade it a A+. Now we all have to hold our breath and hope that training camp opens on time!

WHERE DID THESE GUYS COME FROM?

Some things stay the same !! For the 14th straight year, the SEC was the King of the NFL Draft. The South Eastern Conference led all conferences with 63 picks in the 2020 NFL Draft. The league’s record of 64 selections in the draft was set last season by ... you guessed it … the SEC! The Big Ten Conference was second among conferences with 48 picks.

The reigning national champions Tigers led all teams with 14 draft picks, breaking the SEC record for most by a single team and tying Ohio State’s 2004 class for the most by any school in a given year. The remarkable thing about LSU’s draft class is that most of their selections came in the  rst two days with only four LSU players selected in Rounds 4-7.

Michigan and Ohio State tied for second with 10 selections each … Alabama had nine … Clemson, Florida, Georgia and surprising Utah had seven players selected … Auburn and Notre Dame had six each. A few other schools included: Miami Hurricanes & Oklahoma Sooners each with four players drafted, Texas and UCLA with three each and one player was drafted from UCF, Florida State and FAU. All In all, 96 teams across all three divisions of the NCAA had at least one player selected.

Here is a conference-by-conference breakdown of players drafted: SEC 63 Big Ten 48 Pac-12 32 ACC 27 Big 12 21 AAC 17 Conference USA 10 Mountain West 10 Independent 9 Sun Belt 7 FCS 6 Division II/III 3 MAC 2

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF SPORTS? To say the sporting world is upside down and crazy is a huge understatement! The plug was pulled during the most active time of sports and NOBODY knows what will happen during the next 3-4 months.

Major League Baseball was just getting ready for their season and Spring Training games were being played. The Tampa Bay Rays were picked to win another 90+ games and we were all excited to see the new players the team acquired during the o season,

The Tampa Bay Lightning were concluding another great season as only the Boston Bruins accumulated more points than the Bolts. The playo s were only weeks away and the team was ready to play!

The NBA was also  nishing up their season and getting ready for the playo s … NASCAR was having a great start to their season … the Indy car season was starting right here in St. Petersburg but was canceled … the PGA was gearing up for the Valspar Tournament here in Tampa Bay and the Masters in Augusta … the Kentucky Derby was pushed back to November. Worldwide soccer games were stopped and the 2020 Olympics postponed.

At the time of this article, the NBA is thinking about opening up training camps and that is good news. There is also talk of the PGA playing tournaments in May (maybe without fans but playing).

Sports plays a huge part in people’s lives and the world has not been the same since this damn Corona Virus smacked us right between the eyes. I can only hope that we  nd a vaccine and life can get back to normal. It may be a loooooong time before you see 40,000+ fans in a stadium rooting for the home team but right now I’ll be happy watching my favorite teams on television with no fans in the stands.

WHAT CAN I BET ON? One of the only LIVE sporting events still available to watch and wager on is thoroughbred horse racing. Yes, the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky was postponed but there are still a few racetracks across the country racing without fans in the stands. Here in Florida Tampa Bay Downs and Gulfstream Park Race Track in South Florida are racing … and doing amazing numbers via online betting!

Tampa Bay Downs is recording amazing handle numbers and actually received permission from the state to add racing dates. The track usually closes the day after the Kentucky Derby (this year that would have been May 3) but they received extra racing dates and will be open until May 30. Racing will take place every Wednesday, Friday & Saturday during the month.

There are numerous sites you can join to legally gamble on horse racing. I personally use the Twinspires service but there are many, many others.